A morphosyntactic and semantic analysis of toponyms among the Luhya: A case of Bungoma County

Abstract

Onomastics,the study of names has remained an area of marginal significance in research despite its importance in language studies. This paper conducts a morphosyntactic and semantic analysis of toponymns (place names) among the Luhya group of speakers in Western Kenya, Bungoma County. A structural and functional approach is used to analyse the naming patterns with the idea that African names, as signs of language, can be divided into two morpho-syntactic categories:nominal that is, they constitute single words, or syntagmatic, meaning they are made up of sentences or phrases. Purposively sampled thirty place names are selected from the IEBC inventory and nine key respondents from the nine sub counties. The 30 names are subjected to morpho-syntactic analysis whereas the semi-structured interviews are used to elicit data on etimology and meaning of names from the nine respondents within the framework of the Frame Semantic theory by Fillmore, (Fillmore, 1982). The theory is used to ascertain whether the meaning-making elements in the respective toponymns reflect the historical functions and meanings embedded within the names.The findings reveal that Luhya place names are generated through grammatical rules as a result of word transformations. Such names are generated from nominals and their resulting phrases through derivational morphology.Three word formation processes namely, pre-fixation, compounding and borrowing are exhibited in the naming process. Semantically, the study reveals that Luhya place names are transparent and descriptive in terms of their function. Places are named after topographical features, historical events, climatic conditions and prominent people.